Drákontos
"You almost have to wonder..." The serpentine man said with a simper, stepping forward as explosions rocked the entire area, "if the Shadow Remnants and Akatsuki's war was a fated situation." Allowing his tongue to fall out of his mouth, the man slurped it back in, licking his lips. This was an action he performed for no real reason; it had a habit of unnerving opponents and he wanted to see how the Dragon Slayer who stood before him would react. "What do you think, little Dragon?" He asked, extending a pale, scaled hand. "Humans are drawn to conflict, after all. Do you not believe this was fated to happen? The two strongest Guilds alive in the whole of Earth Land...drawing each other's blood on the island that belonged to another Guild formerly so revered by the mindless masses. It's almost poetic." Makoto instead responded, "This is all because of some petty grudge by a twelve-year-old isn't it?" She knew that nothing important of note happened on this island- it was more bullshit stories. She didn't feel intimidated at all by this snakey-guy. "I can't profess to know what you mean," Anguis shrugged, unperturbed by the Dragon Slayer's lack of a proper response. "To be honest, it's sacrilegious for a scientist such as myself to be speaking in terms of 'fate' or 'destiny'. By all means, I shouldn't entertain such thoughts. And yet it's amusing to think about. We humans are such fascinating creatures; always seeing patterns in things that aren't there." "Master, not to speak out of line, but I don't think our opponent cares much for the way your mind works," Iris interjected, the long white sleeve of her outfit covering her mouth as she spoke. "I think I can see her zoning out." Makoto, truthfully, didn't have a very long focus span. "I meant, this whole is war is because somebody's a child." It actually was. Nevertheless, Makoto drew a blade composed of crystal. She just wanted to go home- not being here for most of these events, all she understood was that this guild master didn't like Jason. "Let's just go." Snakes began to rise from Anguis' sleeves as his tongue lolled out, dripping saliva disgustingly. His glasses glinted maliciously as he prepared himself for battle. "So you're in such a hurry to get a move on..." Anguis thrust his wrist forward with an audible hiss, and snakes erupted from the sleeves like bindings, stretching towards Makoto with fangs bared. Utilizing her Master's opening move, Iris slithered out of view, hiding and biding her time. Makoto herself gathered crystal within her mouth, unleashing it with a mighty roar- these pierced the snakes, and utilizing this as a distraction, she formed a blade of crystal, swinging towards Anguis with all of her might. Close quarters combat was not a specialty of Anguis, and he had no real way of compensating for that in an offensive sense. Defensively, however, his body had been groomed — so to speak — to endure physical pain, and his serpentine scales that coated his body were more akin to steel than keratin. Makoto's sword sent off sparks as it collided with the bare of Anguis' hand, which he used to deflect her blows. Snake-like reflexes, after all. Makoto immediately spun around, breaking out of the lock that they were forced into. Without wasting a second, she threw her hand out, releasing an enormous storm of crystal point-blank towards the man. Only for the storm of crystals to collide with a translucent shield of light; nosing her head out of the ground was the source of this timely defence. Iris Tsubaki was projecting a tangible, and extremely durable, wall of light between her master and the offending spell; perhaps she'd even placed it in advance of the spell's activation. "My gratitude, Iris," Anguis acknowledged her assist before placing his hand at the back of the barrier. "Wood Make: Wood Bolts." The barrier vanished on Iris' order Anguis' arm morphed into something akin to a massive tree before splitting off into tens of different branches, pointed at the ends, aiming to pierce Makoto. Makoto, instead, drew her blade- focusing crystalline energy upon it to create a hardened surface which expanded outwards like a cocoon- it defended against it perfectly. This was Crystal Dragon's Shield- a defensive-type spell that would produce a 360 degree defense, but at the cost of limiting the user's battle options. Breaking out of the cocoon, Makoto launched herself forward like a bullet, aiming to pierce Anguis' heart. Sidestepping on instinct, Anguis felt Makoto fly by him, the very air disturbed by the force of her sword thrust. Straightening his glasses with the base of his palm — odd but not unheard of — before clapping both hands together, flaring a surge of magical energy. "Wood Make: All-Covering Forests and Ten Thousand Things!" Bursting straight forth from the ground, ripping and tearing up dirt, were proud, tall timber, complete with leaves, emerged. They created a veritable forest around Makoto, Anguis, and Iris — showing the true scope of the Guild Ace's magical power. As beautiful as the sight was, these large, incumbering trees had a purpose; to impede Makoto's movements. "Bend!" Anguis mentally willed the trees to incline, bending as if made of rubber, though in truth they were filled to the brim with magical energy, aiming to snake their way around Makoto by the roots and branches. Makoto growled. She was surrounded by plantlife to the highest degree. She swung her arms around, chanting, "Crystal Dragon's...Hurricane!" In an instant, she unleashed a storm of crystals, which provided a momentary defense. Makoto's magical energy surged- flames formed around her, as she entered her Dual-Element Mode. It was crystal plus flames. WOOSH! A blade of flames formed in her other hand. With a single swing, Makoto released a powerful torrent of fire towards her enemy. "She really is a powerful adversary — though I suppose that's only to be expected from a Dragon Slayer." Anguis thought, expanse of flames immersing him in their covering. With his scales providing surprisingly resilient protection against the flames that licked away at his body. Pushing through them, his robes were haggard, but by no means burned off — the perks of durable, synthesized fabric — and his serpentine tail slithered out from under the robes, baring its fangs as Anguis closed the distance between himself and Makoto with all the speed of a striking snake. Opening its mouth, a spray of toxic fluid — viscous in nature, more like a jelly than a true liquid, not easily evaporated by the heat of the flames — was spewed from the serpents mouth, falling in an arc over Makoto. Something about the toxic fluid tipped Makoto off- utilizing the opening created by her Crystal Dragon's Hurricane just before to leap back. Wings of scarlet erupted from her back, allowing her to bust through the thick forest and into the skies as she made a quick dash away from the liquid. Sweltering flames amassed within Makoto's mouth- as she released a powerful torrent of flames towards at her enemy like a meteor crashing to earth. No doubt about it- this was a Dragon's Roar. "Tch...!" He grit his teeth, before the full brunt of the roar collided with his body. "Master!" Iris' shocked gasp escaped her mouth as she slithered out from the ground in time to see her creator being overwhelmed by the Dragon's roar. His trademark venom had missed, hadn't it? Raising her hand in retaliation, she expelled a violet blast of magical energy towards Makoto. Makoto was struck by the snake Iris' magical blast, careening backwards. If only for a second, she was careless. Tumbling along the ground, Makoto weakly thrust her blade into the ground. "So it's two-on-one now? You guys aren't playing fair." "We hardly claimed to be fair," The serptentine girl huffed. As the smoke from Makoto's roar cleared, she saw her master was nowhere to be seen. There was merely singe marks where his body had been, alongside a sizable crater; most likely caused by Makoto's attack. Iris grit her teeth, her eyes narrowing — further, if that was possible — as she stared coldly at Makoto. Wordlessly, the girl channeled bright purple energy into her hands once more, before lobbing it at Makoto as a sphere. Makoto raised her blade deftly- deflecting the snake Iris' attack by slashing it in half through the sheer sharpness of her weapon, she formed wings of flame upon her back, charging forward, sword-first like a bullet towards Iris. "If you can't fight, don't start shit!" "So now we're devolving into smack talk?" Iris replied with disgust in her voice. Iris slithered to the slide, narrowly missing a fatal stab wound as the sword whizzed past her, grazing her cheek. In retaliation, the girl whipped her lower body, a snake's tail, around in a crushing physical blow towards Makoto's body. Makoto formed flame upon her sword, though it was too late- she was blown back by the force of the snake Iris' blow. Tumbling along the ground, she quickly leapt to her feet. She decided, that, "I'm going to end it now!" With that, Makoto charged up her Dragon Slayer's Secret Art, crystals gathering and condensing around her body.... CRACK! With a violent whip like thunder, the ground let out a roar as a pale white, serpentine figure erupted from it, forcing the ground beneath Makoto to slide and slip backwards, attempting to upset her footing and disrupt her spell. Rising from the ground was Anguis, his human shell discarded, now in the form of a pure white snake with arms, an elongated snout, and a mess of silver hair. "I suppose I took a little longer than I should have to prepare for this," The man hissed, glaring at Makoto with yellow eyes. "A little, he says," Iris grumbled. Makoto was indeed disrupted, falling to the ground. Emitting flames from her front, she quickly rose into the air, far away from Snek to allow her to think of a proper finishing attack. Makoto simply rolled her eyes, beginning to think. "This had gotten out of hand fast." Naturally, the ideal thing to do was to cut the thing's tail off. That was it. Makoto used her flames to shoot forward like a rocket, sword aimed at the serpent's tail. Hissing violently, Anguis slithered out of the way, moving along the ground swiftly, appearing as a pale blur. Sharply turning, he boomerang'd back in the direction of Makoto, his mouth opening wide. With another furious hiss, he expelled the same venom towards the Dragon Slayer that he'd released prior. Makoto immediately formed a hexagonal barrier of the element of crystal behind her figure, calling upon a formation of crystalline rocks that served as a brief shield to defend against the venom. Using it as a distraction, Makoto backflipped around to stab the snake in the "neck". "She's far too crafty...!" Anguis thought to himself, dashing forward towards Makoto, and slithering up the length of the sword with ease, bending his muscular body around the blade as he leaned in close towards Makoto. His scales provided protection against the edge of the weapon, and without force to apply, the blade was useless in his grasp. Opening his mouth for a second time, the venom was expelled at point-blank range. Makoto was blown back by Angus' venom, the purple poison soaking her body. Who knew what it'd do to her eventually. However, Makoto resolved to end this laborous battle within one strike now. Pouring all of her strength into her two hands- and subsequently her sword- Makoto engulfed her sword in flames, which were contained by the crystal. "Dragon Slayer's Secret Art Revised- Crystal Fire Sword!" And she swung down like thunder crashing to the ground... The swinging was met with a thunderous explosion of magical energy. The attack in and of itself was completely nullified as the energy, thick like miasma, engulfed the area. From the aura, a giant, eight-headed snake, pale white like death, reared its many heads. Scholars and children alike would be familiar with the appearance of this creature; a beast from the very depths of hell, the Yamata no Orochi. Instantly, as if recognizing Makoto as the target, one of the creature's many heads turned down towards her and released a deadly toxin from its mouth in the form of a liquid deluge. "He's really using it," Iris thought to herself, hastily taking cover. "The Dark Branding of a Thousand Souls, his ultimate technique. You're finished, girl. There will be no end to the terror of the eight-branched serpent." Makoto's wings of fire began to burn brighter- so much they expanded by about twenty feet. Her eyes burnt red, before they turned black- the fires themselves turned black as well- transforming into ash- this created a blunt wall that defended against most of the attack, while pushing forward with such intense heat that it slowly began to envelop Anguis. The toxin also had the added effect of burning Makoto herself- the poison causing her arm to slowly decompose. Perhaps, this was a final 'screw you' to her. The eight-headed beast let out a shriek of pain as the flames enveloped it. Iris, despite desiring to do so, was unable to put out such a wall of fire; it's strength and intensity were simply beyond her magical scope. Anguis turned all eight of his heads towards Makoto, fury alight in all sixteen eyes. Using his size, one of his only remaining weapons, the serpent propelled all of its heads downwards in a slamming attempt on Makoto, aiming to crush the girl with brute force. Makoto gritted her teeth- flames swelled on her blade- crystallizing in an instant. "Dragon Slayer's Secret Art Revision!" The two elements merged into a hundred meter blade of pure energy. There was only one thing to do. "One's Own Life Blade!" And with a mighty slash...she vaporized all of the heads. There was no shriek of pain; nothing. The effect was almost instant; each and every head was sliced off, the wounds cauterized to prevent any kind of regeneration. The colossal body of the creature fell to the ground; Anguis Bane had been slaughtered. Iris cast a shocked look from Anguis' collapsed form to his slayer. Her eyes narrowed. For someone to be able to resist the effects of both the Memai Kakkō and the toxin from the Dark Branding of a Thousand Souls. "And yet..." Iris's narrow eyes looked across Makoto's body. Her right arm was quickly decomposing. She wasn't completely immune, and if she let that poison continue to eat away at her arm, she would be dead. "Perhaps...I could finish the job..." She thought to herself, but quickly shook her head. "No...that would be counterproductive." She slid back, inching away from Makoto. "I'll leave you today, Dragon Slayer girl. Enjoy your victory...and give Crux-san my regards!" The girl moved with speed that it did not seem possible for her to have, burrowing well under the island until the ocean itself could be visible beneath the rock, and she disappeared. And yet Makoto had won the day. Makoto's arm was still decomposing- which was spreading to the rest of her body. Without hesitation, Makoto willingly crystalized her wounded arm, before snapping it off with her remaining hand. Coughing up blood, she sheathed her blade- and began to walk away.